Smoke It, Don't Flaunt It
The Los Angeles Times chronicles the perils of operating a medical marijuana shop in California.
There are an estimated 170 medical marijuana dispensaries in the state but the owners are always in a bit of a catch-22. While the state has legalized the dispensing of marijuana on a doctor's recommendation, the federal government has not.
It sounds like the federal government is trying to work out a compromise, allowing some of the dispensaries to operate as long as they stick to selling to real patients.
However, if you make lots of money then flaunt your success they tend to take it badly. So learned Shon Squier and Luke Scarmazzo, who have made themselves rich in their angel of mercy roles. Scarmazzo even made a video in which he smokes a joint, counts large sums of money and flips off federal agents.
They're now facing IRS and other charges like illegal manufacture and distribution of marijuana after having their Hayward and Modesto operations shut down.
Some cry foul and think going after these entrepreneurs just because they've become filthy rich on an illegal drug is unfair.
Medical marijuana laws are passing in more states all of the time. It looks to me like it's time for the Feds to start working with the state in creating guidelines as to what is and is not allowable. They could even track marijuana through production the way alcohol is tracked now.
On top of that, medical research centers could gain access to marijuana for testing in patients. Determined to keep marijuana illegal, the federal government now denies all of these centers except one the marijuana they need to test the efficacy of the drug.
Oddly enough, this center is run by UC San Diego. Though I'd think it would be more fitting if it was located in Oroville.
See my Dons Blog of California Politics blog for more, with some medical advice on how to smoke a joint.
* Don't source my image to use on your own site. I regularly replace it with images of pink fairies and other less bad boy images.
posted by don1one @ 8:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home